NAEYC. Orlando: Hop, Turn, Freeze

Orlando. A few final parting shots before NAEYC is just a glimmer in my memory. That's THE Mary Jo Huff. We of the hats. I dare say, it appears that she has some bright polka-dots in her garb!!! It's such a bustling busy time. I'm so grateful that she came to stop by and we could catch up and talk over our collaborative blog, PreK + K Sharing -- as she will be one of the original contributing authors.

It was definitely celebrity time at RainbowsWithinReach. That's my first meeting of Amy Mascott both the brains and the heart behind the amazing website and virtual teacher's lounge of WeTeach. We had time for a hug and a picture and about three minutes of conversation, but it was fun to meet-in-person!!! Amy was much more conversant than the other celebrity who stopped through. LOL.

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Welcome to our workshop: "Hop, Turn, Freeze:"

The "Come-Back" Kids!

NAEYC Orlando. 2011. Peabody Ballroom.
Annual NAEYC Friday-night tradition.

Meet Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld. She is the Arts-Mother-of-us-all. She is three parts mentor. Two parts coach. One part muse. Twelve parts inspiration. Ninety-nine parts guts, PURE GUTS....... and goodness gracious how many more parts are there to this woman? This is Mim sharing her spotlight and stage with me, her young protege and upstart. This is Mimi and me caught "dreaming" together -- in sign language. This is Mim + moi caught having a moment.

Mim has invited me up onto her grand stage. This is Mimi & me serenading the campfire circle of teacher-peer-friends at the conclusion of an amazing international gathering of talent, learning, sharing, stretching and growing. (Allen took the picture from the back of the packed ballroom, testing the camera's telephoto close-up capacity.)

I knew that she wanted me to lead the group in a gathering of my theme song, "You're Wonderful." I knew that it would be emotional for me, as I was worn out and battling a garden variety-cold with some laryngitis thrown in from talking 10 hours a day for 3 days straight. I knew that when I get worn out I tend to get emotional. Sharing the stage with Mim, following our sing-a-long, I described us as the "Come-back Kids." Some in the audience were familiar with each of our stories. Some knew one of the stories. Some had no idea.

Mim was driving her car and was T-boned by a truck. Literally in intensive care: shattered. How many broken bones? Just a blink ago. I on the other hand have had my innocence shattered by early Breast Cancer & it's ramifications & complications. Not once. Twice. Yet we have put the wheels back on our respective buses, regrouped and picked up the torch again and again and again and again to carry it forward. To carry it for children. To carry it for teachers. To carry.

I went digging in my blog's archive and found a picture of Mim during her rehabilitation phase, when we attempted to surprise her with a video-filming & outpouring of LUV...... but she got wind of our gathering and came to the party in person, riding her wheel chair with enthusiasm!!! I checked the blog's log date. It was less than two years ago!!!! (Click here to read that posting and see her amazing gathering of supporters in tie-dye..... all of Columbus: Ballet Met, GCAC, JCC, folk dancers, writers + poets + children et. al.) Only occasion -- ever --when Mim was at a loss for words.

Mimi and I have leaned on one another more than once. She calling me with delightful news to lift my spirits after my various surgeries. Me stopping by after Howie's funeral with projects to share. It's a mutual admiration society obviously -- our cheering one another forward. As long as life goes on, ya just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Tonight I've learned that one of my new blogging buddies has received harsh news. As a youngster of 33, she has just received her second diagnosis of cancer-of-the-tongue. Rare to begin with. Unheard of to receive a second diagnosis with her youth. My heart is heavy on Mandy's behalf. She has created a blog-linky, to have us share our experience with cancer. To share some encouragement. To offer support. To come together. How truly amazing that I have the picture of the "Come Back Kids" captured together just last night.







What's my advice/insight to Mandy at the news of her second diagnosis? 

1. Allow yourself to feel ALL of your feelings and then 'let-them-go.'
2. Allow others to show their love & concern by giving them assignments-of-support.
3. When in doubt, ALWAYS fill yourself with hope.
4. Stay busy with tidbits that make you happy. Focus on those details.
5. Gather stories of "over-coming" for quick reference on overcast days or sleepless nights.
6. Expect people to say some wacky-stuff, know they mean well, then let it go. Forgive.
7. Find as many things to laugh about as possible: ie watch re-runs of your favorite comedies.
8. Add to your bucket list and focus on all of the amazing adventures that still await.
9. Remember to take good care of yourself in the whirlwind: baby steps -- prioritize.
10. Exhale deeply. With regularity. Then exhale again. Rinse and repeat. One step at a time.
11. Take a notebook to all of your medical appointments. Advocate for yourself!!!
12. Dust off your 'faith' circle of support, now's the time to go even deeper.

Readers. As a writer of a blog I know just how much it means, having a comment written on a blog post. How about hopping over to Mandy's and leaving a comment of support? How about 'following' her blog in the sidebar? If you're a fellow blogger -- how about joining the linky and sharing your thoughts and insight? We can make a difference to each other. We can connect through the cloud, by parting the clouds. We can be part of the come-back. I bet it would mean a lot to Mandy. I know it would mean a lot to Mandy.

Today as everything in the NAEYC exhibit hall was winding down, a very caring participant from last night tracked me down in my booth. She came to express her appreciation for my candid emotions of last night. She told me that it's all together too easy to sit in the audience of the 'big performers' and assume that we are in the spotlight because we've lived an 'easy' life and have had no 'distractions' from our talents or 'disruptions' to our goals. She was grateful to know that both Mimi and I have battled through hardships and that she had no idea of any of that history, until I got choked up. She told me that my candid sharing gave her hope -- to know that we are in the business of "over-coming + triumphing" offered her encouragement.

I'm grateful for her insight and her taking the time to come share it. I'm grateful that Mandy has chosen to use her experience to help educate others in the very midst of her own personal challenge. Mandy will be a ray-of-hope to others as they face challenges. There-in lies the one silver lining of challenges..... that we are offered an opportunity to become 'real' to one another.

Now hop over to Mandy's and become real. Thanks.

Debbie

NAEYC Celebrations!!!!

It's a REDLEAF PRESS PARTY!!!!!

It's a "One, Two, What Can I Do?" Party!!!!

It's a HIGHLIGHTS HIGH FIVE PARTY!!!!

It's a get-interviewed-for-radio-telecast party!!!!

It's a BIG-APPLE Hug Fest Party!!!!

It's a Donna Wittmer & Dr. Alice Hong Hug Party!!!

Reflections, Progress + Dreams

Reflection. It's time to take a deep breath and reflect. Literally. Today, in-real-time, is a driving day. A day of transition. A day of reflection. A day of consideration. We are heading south to Florida for the season ahead. We are heading to Florida for NAEYC and my contribution to presentations there and introducing my work to tons of new friends. I have my very own booth, #719, in the amazing exhibit hall in Orlando. A first. I'm excited!!

NAEYC is always the watershed event of the year for me. It's the milestone that marks the new year, much more so than Dec.31st. In my quest to get my blog and work to a wider audience I am now a contributor to the collective blog, Classroom Freebies, which has dozens of teaching bloggers sharing FREE materials 24/7/365!!! In thinking through what I can contribute there, I remembered a collection of quotations on the subject of 'dreams' that I had assembled years ago. I have saved that list into a pdf  format and have added it to my freebie tab at the top of the blog, just up above.

 

Once I'd reworked the quotations into pdf format, it was then a question of creating a visual to entice the Classroom Freebies folks to follow over here. That mulling reminded me that I had never posted my first pictures of this previous season..... of our arrival to Door County up in Wisconsin. In searching through my Picassa files I see that I took these pictures at the end of May. I know I was driving south on Highway 42, following Sunday morning services up in Ellison Bay. Coming down the hill into Sister Bay the fog was finally lifting. It was all I could do to get the car parked safely as I saw this beauty emerge. 

Combining the image of the little dinghy following the lead sails is the perfect visual for the quote, "Follow your dreams.... they know the way." from a book I have by Kobi Yamada. 

 

This year I can return to NAEYC and bring my newest picture book, "Red, White and Blue" adorned with the national INDIE Award of Excellence gold seal!!! Having dreams requires huge amounts of patience. It's about believing in the future, about taking baby steps. It's about perseverance and trust. It's about imagination and creativity and guts and fortitude. It's about overcoming inertia and procrastination. It's about battling perfectionism in favor of progress.

This is my eighth NAEYC to get to present my ideas, approach & materials to an eager audience. At this point I've published three of my original children's songs into picture book format. That's what I call progress!! This is the first NAEYC to celebrate my collaborative project created with national dance authority, Connie Dow for Redleaf Press, "One Two, What Can I Do?" will be amidst their stacks -- with an official author signing on Friday of next week. That's what I call progress!! This is the annual event where I met Arlana Young who created my tour to Europe this past spring. YES!! I'm living the life I've imagined. That's what dreams do for you!

How about you? What's your dream? Leave me a comment and share your hopes. I've learned that putting dreams into writing is the very first step toward bringing them to fruition.

****My next goal? As of this morning I have 846 official blog followers. There's a highly esteemed group that I can join when I have 1000 followers. If this is your first visit here, you can help me forward toward this goal by officially following this blog. There's a grid near the top of the blog, in the left column. Just click 'follow this blog.' (It's an ap thru Facebook.) Every new follower is one more baby step forward. THANKS!!

FAME & Enrique Feldman

WELCOME, ENRIQUE!!!!

Friends + Readers, I'm THRILLED to have the opportunity to introduce you to another member of the creative-community-at-large. Enrique is celebrating the release of his first ever 'guide-book' for the early childhood educational community. This man is hard to pin down to any singular discipline, as he's a power-house of ideas on all things 'creative'.  He's equal parts mentor, inspiration, musician, writer and friend. What a pleasure to interview this world class Artist.

To begin with Enrique, how about a quick summary of your background, and let my readers in on some of the diverse pieces of your professional quilt. Start at the beginning, please.

"As a student at the University of Arizona I studied to become a band director and I did that, having been the Assistant Band Director at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the Associate Director of Bands and Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Arizona from 1992 - 1997. However, I always remembered an experience as a student at the University of Arizona with the Early Childhood Music Lab. That experience stayed with me and in 1997, I resigned from the University of Arizona and founded the F.A.M.E. Foundation: Fostering Arts-Mind Education Foundation, my non profit organization."

Yes, that's when we were first introduced to each other, just as you were launching F.A.M.E.  Explain an overview of the 'templates'  you designed that we used when training teachers -- all the way back at the beginning.

"I authored "Life Learning Techniques" which have been recognized as successful by the National Endowment for the Arts and which have been used with over 40,000 children and families in multiple states in the U.S. and in Mexico. The work I'm involved with regarding children and teachers has become a movement, a revolution as I collaborate with other foundations and other artists like Debbie."

It's exciting to see how F.A.M.E. has expanded over the years and continues to grow!

                                                                NAEYC Presentation: CELEBRATE!

"My perspective is unique in that I have travelled so much and continue to work with children from different cultures and backgrounds. What I see is a growing number of adults who are increasing their awareness related to the importance of the Arts and the importance of finding our inner child again, not just to improve our practice, but to elevate how we live. This is the essence of my work as an Artist."

I think the readers would get a kick out of knowing what else you continue to juggle artistically. Share just a snippet of that work if you would.

"As an Artist today, I'm a film composer and performing artist, having gone back to my roots as a pianist and vocalist. My most recent film as a composer, Gun Hill Road, is in theaters and will be on DVD and Netflicks soon. I've also been fortunate to have been nominated for 2 Grammy's and I feel blessed to be engaged in areas that I have a deep passion for as both an educator and personally in my artistic endeavors."  

Congratulations!!! You've always got a lot going on. Now please let's focus on your newly released book from Redleaf Press!!

 "Living Like a Child a handbook and guide for teachers, parents and anyone who works with young children. The book is focused on both techniques and concepts to improve how we as adults can connect with children and in the end connect with ourselves and other adults. Even though the material in the book is research-based and comes from over a decade of work in the field, the book itself is intended as a fun and inspiring read.
 

There are many techniques described in detail in the book, so anyone who reads it will have plenty of 'take aways.' While the focus is on early childhood, this book would help anyone who teaches improve their craft. Specifically, the book describes the importance of using abstract and linear questions as a bridge to critical thinking skills and how to use improvisation based on children's responses as a bridge to creativity.

The book also describes how to engage the different learning styles along with teaching in both width and depth. Additionally, how to use music is addressed in detail. My favorite chapter is the final one titled "An Invitation to Live in the Eye of the Storm." This relates to how we can stay relaxed and focused in what is sometimes a storm of energy and also related to personal challenges we all face."

I've always enjoyed your technique 'Surfing the Words' captured in the photographs above of your reading to the children. How can non-musicians implement these strategies found in your book?

"Actually, this book is geared for folks who aren't musicians. It's really for the everyday teacher and parent who want to be more artistic in their approach and interactions. There are so many ways the techniques can be used, from breathing and relaxation games -- to strategies to improve how young children focus -- to music with literacy approaches -- to games where we actually 'become' words and emotions with our bodies. Everything is very engaging. It's all a lot of fun!"

You're such an inspiration. Do you have a favorite inspirational quote?

"Yes, I have many, but one of my favorites that we still use on our certificates for the teachers who go through our professional development is the following anonymous one."

                                                                 Enrique's Classical CD  

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, all your thoughts break their bonds; and you find yourself in a great new and wonderful world.”

With that in mind, I invite you to join my new educational and revolutionary group on Facebook titled "Living Like a Child". It already has many wonderful video's, quotes and advice related to early childhood education and living like a child. I hope to see you there!



When is your next opportunity for teachers-at-large to see your ideas in action?


"The next big opportunity is my presentation at NAEYC is Orlando. I know your fanclub will be excited to see your contribution within the FAME format as well, Debbie. It's great to have the expanded workshop format and we're up first thing on Wednesday morning beginning at 8:30!"


See ya there!!!! As always, I welcome questions in the comment section that follows this post. I'll get your thoughts & queries for Enrique's feedback & response in a follow-up in the future.

******Click here to see an earlier post on FAME Foundation.
******Click here to see other NAEYC presentations where Enrique + I have presented together:
               NAEYC Washington DC: Post one     Post two     Post three
               NAEYC Dallas: Post one   Post two